May 18

This Day in History

Also on This Day

Lead Story
Pope John Paul II born, 1920
American Revolution
United Empire Loyalists reach Canada, 1783
Automotive
Lotus makes Formula One debut, 1958
Civil War
The siege of Vicksburg commences, 1863
Cold War
One million protesters take to the streets in Beijing, 1989
Crime
Popular evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears, 1926
Disaster
Mount St. Helens erupts, 1980
General Interest
Lincoln nominated for presidency, 1860
Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
India joins the nuclear club, 1974
Mount St. Helens erupts, 1980
Facebook raises $16 billion in largest tech IPO in U.S. history, 2012
Hollywood
Shrek released, 2001
Literary
Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe, 1593
Music
Ian Curtis of Joy Division commits suicide, 1980
Old West
Chief Satanta massacres teamsters, 1871
Presidential
Newspaper report criticizes Mrs. Lincoln, 1861
Sports
Randy Johnson throws perfect game at 40, 2004
Vietnam War
Laird charges, 1966
Communists attack Xuan Loc, 1969
World War I
U.S. Congress passes Selective Service Act, 1917
World War II
Hitler gives the order for Operation Alaric, 1943
Polish Corps takes Monte Cassino, 1944

General Interest

May 18, 2012:

Facebook raises $16 billion in largest tech IPO in U.S. history

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On this day in history, Facebook, the world's largest social network, holds its initial public offering (IPO) and raises $16 billion. It was the largest technology IPO in American history to that date, and the third-largest IPO ever in the United States, after those of Visa and General Motors. At the time it went public, Facebook was valued at $104 billion and had some 900 million registered users worldwide.

Facebook was founded as TheFacebook in February 2004 by Harvard University sophomore Mark Zuckerberg and fellow classmates Chris Hughes, Eduardo Saverin and Dustin Moskovitz. The site originally was only for students at Harvard; however, it soon opened up to other universities. In June 2004, Zuckerberg moved Facebook to Palo Alto, California, and by the end of the year several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs had invested in the business and it had almost a million registered users. In 2005, Facebook (as it officially became known that year when "the" was dropped from its name) spread to American high schools and foreign schools, and the following year, anyone who was at least 13 years old was allowed to sign up. (Facebook always has been free to join; at the time of its IPO, the bulk of the company's revenues came from advertising.)

As the site's user base grew rapidly and its functionality expanded (the "news feed" was added in 2006 and the "like" feature in 2009), Facebook helped change how people communicate and share information. During the 2008 U.S. presidential race, Barack Obama used Facebook to build a following, especially among young voters, a constituency that helped him win the White House. Additionally, during the political uprisings in the Middle East that began in late 2010 and came to be called the Arab Spring, activists used Facebook (and other social media tools, notably Twitter) to share photos and videos of atrocities their governments were committing against citizens, and also to organize protest events. (As of late June 2012, more than 80 percent of Facebook's monthly active users were outside of America and Canada.)

In 2010, "The Social Network," a feature film about the founding of Facebook, made its debut. The movie, which earned eight Academy Award nominations, chronicled the 2004 lawsuit filed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra, Harvard students at the same time as Zuckerberg, who claimed he stole the original idea for Facebook from them. Facebook countersued, and in 2008, the Winklevosses and Narendra agreed to a $65 million settlement from the company.

Facebook made the Dobbs Ferry, New York, native Zuckerberg, the son of a dentist, a billionaire. At the time of the company's much-anticipated IPO on May 18, 2012, Zuckerberg was worth some $19 billion. However, despite all the fanfare surrounding Facebook's IPO, its shares closed the first day of trading at $38.23, only slightly above the $38 IPO price, which many investors considered a disappointing performance.

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This Week in History, May 18 - May 24

May 18, 1860
Lincoln nominated for presidency
May 18, 1896
Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson
May 18, 1974
India joins the nuclear club
May 18, 1980
Mount St. Helens erupts
May 18, 2012
Facebook raises $16 billion in largest tech IPO in U.S. history
May 19, 1588
Spanish Armada sets sail
May 19, 1749
Ohio Company chartered
May 20, 1498
Vasco da Gama reaches India
May 20, 1506
Christopher Columbus dies
May 20, 1862
The Homestead Act
May 20, 1927
Spirit of St. Louis departs
May 20, 1969
Battle for Hamburger Hill ends
May 20, 1996
Supreme Court defends rights of homosexuals
May 21, 1542
De Soto dies in the American wilderness
May 21, 1927
Lindbergh lands in Paris
May 21, 1932
Earhart completes transatlantic flight
May 22, 1455
The War of the Roses
May 22, 1972
President Nixon in Moscow
May 22, 1990
Yemen united
May 23, 1701
Captain Kidd walks the plank
May 23, 1900
Forgotten Civil War hero honored
May 23, 1911
New York Public Library dedicated
May 23, 1960
Eichmann captured
May 24, 1543
Copernicus dies
May 24, 1844
What hath God wrought?

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